International dishesSavory CakesChinaabout 3 hours 30 minutes including marinating time
Baked char siu buns rely on two doughs nested inside each other: a water dough on the outside and an oil dough within. A few rounds of rolling and coiling split the pastry into many thin layers that bake up golden brown and flaky. The hardest part is keeping the butter cold throughout the rolling, because melted butter fuses the layers into one mass.
The char siu filling has to be cooked down until dry before it is wrapped, since a wet filling softens the base and pops the seams open. The water dough gets only fifteen seconds of kneading once the ice water goes in, as longer kneading melts the butter and toughens the pastry.
This batch weighs about 1.3kg, at roughly 313 calories per 100g.
Method
Rinse 200g pork collar and drain it. Peel and bruise 15g garlic, peel and dice the onion, and wash and finely chop 10g spring onion and cilantro.
Mix the pork with 15g bruised garlic, 70g char siu powder, 100ml water, 2 tablespoons kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, 1/2 teaspoon MSG, 3 tablespoons soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Marinate in the fridge for 2 hours.
Cook the pork in an air fryer at 180 degrees C for 20 minutes, turning it at the 14 minute mark. Once cooked, dice it and keep a little of the marinade.
Make the water dough: put 230g flour and 140g frozen unsalted butter in a bowl, work it together roughly, then add 80ml ice water and knead 10 to 15 seconds more.
Make the oil dough: mix 185g flour, 20g cornstarch, 1 teaspoon salt and 80ml cooking oil in another bowl until combined, then rest it for 15 to 20 minutes.
Dust the bench with 15g flour and knead the water dough until it no longer sticks. Fold it in half, push it away, turn it 90 degrees, and repeat for about 5 minutes, then wrap it and rest for 20 minutes.
Cook the filling: heat 1 tablespoon cooking oil, soften the onion, then add the char siu pork, 2 tablespoons of the marinade and 1 tablespoon tapioca starch. Stir for 1 to 2 minutes, turn off the heat, and mix in the spring onion, cilantro and black pepper.
Divide the water dough and the oil dough into 12 pieces each and roll them into balls. Flatten a ball of water dough, set a ball of oil dough in the middle and seal the edges.
Roll each one out thin, coil it up tightly, roll it thin again and coil it once more. Fold both ends inward, turn it over and roll it into a round.
Place a spoonful of filling in the middle and gather the edges shut.
Heat the oven to 180 degrees C for 10 minutes. Mix 1 chicken egg, 1 tablespoon unsweetened oat milk and 1 teaspoon cooking oil, brush it over the buns and scatter on 5g black sesame.
Bake at 180 degrees C for 22 minutes until the tops are golden brown. Take them out, brush on another layer of egg wash and bake 3 minutes more.
Tips
The filling has to be cooked down dry, or the pastry goes soggy from the inside out.
Without an air fryer, the pork can be cooked in an oven or on a grill at the same temperature and time.
The butter stays in the freezer until rolling time, and warm hands are worth cooling under cold water before touching the dough.
A 10 minute chill between coiling rounds gives noticeably clearer layers.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly, so the marinade needs another stir after 5 minutes to season the pork evenly.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend does not darken on its own, and the brown of the buns comes from the char siu powder and the egg wash.
Need kOBE Monk Fruit Blend?
The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.